The Polish custodian got his marching orders when he clearly brought down Arjen Robben for a penalty on 37 minutes. While Bayern missed the resulting spot-kick, they used their extra man to comfortably see off Arsenal 2-0.

However, Sansom told Drivetime: "All of a sudden, bang, you get a sending off, which is a sending off. If a midfield player did that on the halfway line, that tackle, he could have easily broken Robben’s leg.

"He would have got sent off on the halfway line so it is a sending off. The goalkeeper’s made the wrong decision. It’s going to be a penalty all day and he’s going to get sent off.

"If he’s wide of the penalty box and the keeper misses it by three inches of his hand and catches the player then that’s a different situation but Szczesny has made the wrong decision, he’s made the challenge and he’s had to go."

The 23-year-old created further controversy when he made a rude gesture as he walked off the pitch but Sansom defended the goalkeeper.

"I'll stick up for him for the gesture because he’s obviously very angry with himself and he’s taken it out on someone but that’s just a bit of frustration from him."